Last night, I sat down to watch Part III of Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures Series. During the episode, Cousteau said the point of Part III -- dubbed "Sharks at Risk" -- was to dispel two myths: first, that sharks are not mindless man-eaters; and second, that the ocean is not brimming with the creatures. Impressed with -- but mildly bored by -- Parts I and II, I was hoping "Sharks at Risk" would be tighter, more focused, and...well...better.

The verdict? Sharks make good TV.

Cousteau begins his journey in French Polynesia, on the island of Rangiroa in the Tuomatu Archipelago -- the second-largest coral atoll in the world, famous for its large concentration of sharks. Diving to depths of 200 feet, Cousteau and his team do see sharks: on a few of the dives, in fact, they see hundreds of gray reef sharks (some of whom are mating). Despite the abundance of sharks on these reefs, however, Cousteau points out that an estimated 100 million sharks are killed annually -- either as accidental by-catches, or specifically for their fins. (Asian markets pay as much as $200 per pound for shark fins to make into soup, which they serve to impress their friends. I've got an idea: how about just giving cash to the friends you want to impress, and leave the sharks alone?)

Although Rangiroa is in the middle of a huge, fertile ocean, local fishermen complain that fish stocks have been falling recently and that, amazingly, the island now imports tuna! Blaming the increasing number of longlining fishing boats for overfishing local waters, one fisherman says, "The number of boats is growing like seaweed." As the boats come closer to the island and its reef, and as they overfish critical populations on those reefs (like sharks), Cousteau fears a dangerous imbalance is bound to occur.

It isn't all bad news, however. In French Polynesia, 80% of fishing occurs in small, private farms, using modified, traditional methods (trapping the fish, letting them grow to the right size, and then harvesting them). In this way, locals get what they need, and they have the ability to throw back everything they don't need. Simple, sustainable, and totally fascinating, when I win the lottery, I'm moving to Polynesia and fishing traditionally for the remainder of my days.

After Polynesia, Cousteau visits Dyer Island -- 2 miles off South Africa's coast -- where a huge, healthy, (and stinky) group of Cape fur seals live. There, in a stretch of water known as "Shark Alley," he and his crew meet Andre "Sharkman" Hartman, to learn about the behavior of the area's famed great whites. First diving with great whites (something I believe I COULD do) and later snorkeling with them (something I do NOT believe I could do), Cousteau ultimately grabs the dorsal fin of one shark and let it take him for a ride. In my mind: a fascinating, magical moment.

In the South Africa segment, I was surprised at two things. First, Hartman feeds the sharks the meat that he uses to attract them; I thought this was a no-no for the cage diving industry (because we don't want sharks to associate humans with food). And second, when I was cage diving with great whites, the sharks were frightened away by the bubbles coming from our regs. Yet, Cousteau and his team didn't seem to have the same problem.

Cousteau wanted to show that sharks are not mindless man-eaters, and he did that -- to an extent -- in South Africa, when he took one for a ride. However, as many precautions as the team took to ensure his safety, it seemed like he proved that great whites were CAPABLE of not being man-eaters, not that they WEREN'T man-eaters (a subtle distinction). Second, Cousteau wanted to show that the ocean is not brimming with the sharks. Considering that on some of the team's dives, Cousteau found more dolphins than sharks, I think he achieved this goal.

Ultimately, I think it was an hour well spent, although I kept waiting for Fabien to appear. I enjoyed this episode more than the first two, because Cousteau had a hypothesis that he set out to prove. There was an overarching theme to the show, and it kept the episode hanging together. Plus, as I said, sharks make good TV.

Did you watch? What did you think?